We did it!! Living with very little bills at LAST!AIBU to feel like I’m missing something?

[Freedomyeah]

Nc’d and posting for traffic

So we have finally managed to reduce our bills in life to as little as possible. We bought a small cottage outright!
Our bills as it stands are
Electricity
Insurance house/life
Car insurance/tax
Fuel
Food
Phone bills x2
Childcare (term time only)

That’s it! (I think) 😬 I feel like I’m constantly missing something! I need to relax (like I thought I would be) but I’m feeling restless and uneasy! AIBU am I missing something HUGE that will jump up and bite me.
We are not in uk.

Where can I move that I would pay no council tax?

On the road, rough camping. Or sites, but they charge pitch and site fees. Or off grid, but then you need to find a way to dispose of your own rubbish and get services.

We don’t pay for water in Northern Ireland either for those that are surprised by no water bill

In Scotland it's rolled into your council tax, but it's still not free.

Congrats OP!

Tim - I meant which country?

If there are any actual monthly bills you’ve forgotten, you will surely be reminded when they arrive through your letterbox. Apart from that, it is a question of saving so you’ve got money by for emergencies/the future.

Holidays, travel,entertainment, medical insurance, medicines, contingency funds

Do you have to pay for healthcare, dental, medicines etc?

Try to put some aside for those.

Sounds like a great plan. Live a low cost life instead of working long hours to pay for things that you can happily do without.

Medical/dental/optician stuff - even if you're very healthy there might be a need for check-ups which aren't always free
Cars need to be maintained and so do houses - so add in provision for yearly car maintenance, plus something for the house (to include a tile falling off a roof, a drain being blocked and so on)

Clothes? Medicines eg ibuprofen or prescriptions?
Glasses/contact lenses
Haircuts
Presents
Household repairs
Pension payments/savings

Mr Money Mustache or MSE old fashioned money saving would be good sites/forums to check with those who’ve done it.

Life insurance

If you are in a rural cottage do you have things like septic tank pump out?

What about heating?

@timshelthechoice yes we have a well but there are no water rates here at all (except for businesses I think)

@Paintingtheroseswhite yes we have a septic tank.

Heating wise we have a solid fuel stove and electric heaters (brand new highly efficient) in the bedrooms and the cottage has been highly insulated.

We are in the rep of Ireland for the pp’s asking

I think for essentials you have it covered except repairs, maintenance and replacements.

The other things mentioned are more luxuries or nice to haves, so not needed to be counted on an essentials only list.

I'm similar but my only other essentials are my child's education as I home ed. I put aside money for trips, activities, books and materials. I also count basic clothing and shoes as essentials and that's in my monthly budget. Not spent each month but there if needed.

How long have you lived where you live? If it's a while, then I'd guess you know what you need.

I'd be building up a contingency fund for dramas- roof repair, car death etc. Everything else can be managed without, if necessary.

@picklemepopcorn 3 months now, nearly 4.

It's quite early days then. Still you're on the right track, just need to keep a close eye on expenditure. We've always been abstemious, paid off the mortgage, saving like mad for pensions etc. We're nearly there. Just need to ride out Brexit.

I live in Ireland too. What about...

household tax and bins?

@Greencustard I just do the recycling myself and compost what I can m. I keep my receipts from the recycling Centre. I don’t have a lot of waste. Cardboard is free with green star. I shop at lidl so I get rid of my plastics there (and also the card sometimes) the rest I sort and store in a boxes in the shed until I need to go. I have been twice in the past 3months and it only cost €6 each time!! That vs €24 a month!! It’s a no brainer. It’s on my work route too so not out of the way!

Property tax we will pay annually I think. We haven’t quite figured that out but it’s not much we figure.

I have been twice in the past 3months and it only cost €6 each time!! That vs €24 a month!! It’s a no brainer

That's brilliant. I'm paying €28 a month for recycling/refuse

Fantastic! I wish more places had a pay as you go scheme, people might reduce their consumption!

It sounds like you've had to work hard for years to balance the books and not having to do that is feeling a bit strange! I'd also think about car payments or putting money aside for a new car when the time comes to need one - if you drive. If you can afford to save in advance rather than buy on credit - why not?

Thank you everyone. yes I suppose we did what most ppl do and we just got to a point where we wanted to live more simply.

Savings are important to us now so we don’t have to tie ourselves into credit etc.

Good for you and your small bills and your extra curricular activities and your car costs that you haven't accounted for. Yes, I do think something big will come and bite you

Great example of someone being an absolute twat on the internet because they can hide behind their computer.

OP- I would imagine healthcare is a big one, pensions,start saving for uni now if you have kids! Also agree with having a savings pot for when the boiler breaks down or whatever.

Have to laugh at people who don't understand there's no council tax or water rates, it's a different country - not every where is the same as UK.
To OP, health insurance is the only one I can think of & others have already suggested that. Also if any of you are on regular meds then the monthly cost of that, which is there is a max family limit.
As you've no tv you've obviously no tv licence but there's talk in the media about tv licence being replaced by some type of household tax you capture the ever increasing number of people with no tv.

I guess my advice would be if you're cutting it to the bone (e.g. worrying that a £200 TV licence would tip you over from surviving to debt), that's actually not a very nice or relaxing way to live.

We have paid off our mortgage, but my between us, we work for approx 4 months each year, to give us a cushion of a few thousand pounds for holidays, new fridge, anything we weren't expecting, so it doesn't slowly drain our quality of life.